william n



(No Model.)

2 Sheets-Sheet 1. D. M. HOLBROOK.

' MACHINE FOR COATING PILLS.-

Patenteduly 9, 1895.

M ATTORNEY (No Model.) 7 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

D. M.HOLBROOK. MACHINE FOR COATING PILLS.

. No. 542,612. Patented July 9,1895.

INVENTOR UNrrn YATES DAVID M. HOLBROOK, OF BROOKLYN,

ASSIGNOR TO WILLIAM H. SOHIEFFE- LIN, WILLIAM N. CLARK, WILLIAM S. MERSEREAU, WILLIAM L. BROWER, HENRY S. CLARK, AND WILLIAM J. SCI-IIEFFELIN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

MACHINE FORYCOATING PILLS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 542,612, dated July 9, 1895.

Application filed geptember 22, 1893- Serial No. 486,167. (No model.)

To atZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, DAVID M. I-IoLBRooK, of the city of Brooklyn, county of Kings, and

State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Machines for Coating Pills, of which the following is a specification.

My improvement relates particularly to coating pills with gelatine or similar material.

I will describe an apparatus by the use of which my invention may be practiced, and then point out the novel features of my improvement in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a side view of such parts of a machine intended for use in connection with my improvements as are necessary for a comprehension of the same. Fig. 2 is an end view. Fig. 3 is a plan view.

Similar letters of reference designate corresponding parts in all the figures.

A designates a receptacle, which may be made of any suitable material. Tinned iron will be found serviceable for its construction. It may advantageously be made cylindrical in form. It is supported in an inclined position and so as to be free to rotate. Itis shown as having a non-rotary bottom a and a second bottom a, which is formed integral, so as to partake of the rotary movement. The lower bottom may be made to serve as a journal, on which the receptacle, with the upper bottom, may rotate. The lower bottom need only be provided with a single hole a and this is lo cated near the circumference. The upper bottom is provided with a number of holes a These are arranged in a circular row at such distance from the center that when the upper bottom rotates above the lower bottom the holes of the former will successively pass over the single hole in the latter.

The lower bottom a, may be supported upon a bracket A, extending from a table B.

The receptacle A maybe rotated by any suitable means-as, for example, through the agency of ratchet-teeth and a pawl. Ratchetteeth 0. corresponding in number with the number of holes a and similarly spaced, are shown as formed at the lower edge of the receptacle to coact with a pawl a attached to a rod 0, that is operated by a crank D on a suitable rotating shaft. At each rotation of the crank the receptacle may be rotated a dis tance equal to one of its teeth, so as to remove one of the holes a of the rotary bottom a from over the hole a in the non-rotary bottom a. and adjust the next adjacent hole a of the rotary bottom over the hole a of the non rotary bottom a. The pawl a is pivoted by a pin or screw a to a projection 0, extending 6o laterally from the rod C,and is supported between the ends by resting upon the bearing a which to avoid undue friction maybe made in the form of a loose pulley. This manner of supporting the pawl provides for its eng'aging and disengaging motion, as well as its reciprocating movement.

From the single hole a of the non-rotary bottom a a tubular chute E extends downwardly into a position enabling it to dis- 7o charge into an open-work support G, which may advantageously be made in the form of a fork having its tines out of line, so as to form-a support having a concave upper surface. This support is sustained by an oscillating rod or lever g, fulcrumed at g'and connected with the rod 0. It is not connected directly with the rod or lever g; but its shank g is pivotally connected to the latter by a pin 9 so that the said support G may have an 8 independent oscillation. A spring 9 fastened to the shank of the support G and hearing against the rod g, tends to hold the support in proximity with two tines or needles 9 which are provided at the lower extremity of the rod g.

Uncoated pills are intended to be introduced into the receptacle A and pass, one at a time, down the chute E, the passage of each pill occurring when one of the holes a of the rotary bottom (1 comes into line with the singlehole a of the non-rotary bottom a. Escapingfrom the chute each pill by itself drops upon the support G, this support, with its supporting-rod g, being then in the rearmost 5 position and the tines of the support being by the action of the spring 9 projected between tines or needles with which the rod g is provided, as illustrated in full lines in Fig.

1. It will of course be understood that the pill falls in front of the tines or needles g o the rod g.

When the support G is in the proper posttion for receiving the pill, it is immersed in melted coating material to a sufficient depth, so that a pill resting upon support G will be completely covered with the liquid.

When the support and the parts coacting therewith occupy the position just described, the pill will be held in a solution of gelatine or other coating material with which a receptacle H is supplied. Preferably this receptacle will be provided with a heating-jacket to maintain the solution at a proper temperatained, so that the tines or needles =9 with which the rod 9 is provided will be moved beyond the tines of the fork constituting the. Thus the pill, which was formerly carried by the support G, will be removed? The means for thus detaining the support G are shown as consist-j ing of astationarydetent-arm I, coacting with an arm 9 extending laterally from the shank 5 I said support into and out of said tank and support Gr.

from said support.

of the support G.

Before the discharge of the pill it will have 1 Hence 1 been carried beyond the receptacle. when it falls it will be caught in a tube J.

The latter may be made of any suitable ma- 1 terial and is intended to have considerable-v length-as, for exampte,'a length of about thirty'six inches. It is intendedto contain a cooling agent-such, for example, as naphtha orliquid paraffine-and will preferably havea j false bottom j, of any reticulated or perforated material, so that the pills will ultimately be supported by the same and may be lifted up out of the naphtha or analogous liquid by elevating the false bottom by hand or otherwise.

, Preferably, the receptacle J will be jack eted, so that it may be surrounded by a cooling agent for the purpose of maintaining the contained liquid cooling agent at a low temperature.

The temperature of the naphtha or analogous liquid is to be so reduced that when the pills reach the bottom of thetubo the coating upon them will be congealed and hardened to such an-extent that it will retain its position and the pills will not stick to each other. The pills can now be removed and dried in any approved manner.

Of course, it will have been inferred that the cooling agent in the receptacle J is to be of less specific gravity than the pills, so that the latter will descend. The function of the cooling agent is that of an absorbent of the heat retained in the coating that envelops the pills.

In its fore The apparatus herein described is but one of a series of similar apparatus to be Worked in unison.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In an apparatus for coating pills, the combination of a receptacle for the pills, a tank for liquid coating material, an open work support, means for transferring the pills from the receptacle to the support, and means for moving said support into and out of said tank, so that it may first sustain the pill within said tank and afterward remove it therefrom, substantially as specified.

2. In an apparatus forcoating pills, the combination of a receptacle for the pills, a tank for liquid coating material, an oscillating open work support for sustaining the pills in said tank and mechanism for oscillating said support to remove the pills from the tank, substantially as specified.

3. In an apparatus for coating pills, the combination of a rotary receptacle for the pills, having a rotary bottom provided with a number of holes upon which bottom the mass of pills rests, and also having a non-rotary bottom provided with a hole and arranged below the rotary bottom, a tank of coating material, an open work support, means for moving the means for rotating the said receptacle, substantially as specified.

4. In an apparatus for coating pills, the combination of a receptacle for the pills, a tank for liquid coating material, a support provided with tines or needles, a rod moving with said support, but having a loose connection therewith, tines or needles at the end of said rod, means for moving said support and rod together and a detent for holding back said support and permitting the rod to travel beyond said support, substantially as specified.

5. In an apparatus for coating pills, the combination of a receptacle for coating material a receptacle for cooling material and automatic means for removing pills from the coating material to the cooling material, substan tially as specified.

6. In an apparatus for coatingpills, the combination of a receptacle for coating material, a receptacle for cooling material, automatic mechanism for transferring the pills one at a time from the coating receptacle to the cooling receptacle, and a cooling material, such as oil, naphtha, or liquid paraffine, substantially as specified.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

III 

